


The Boy from the Sea

by Galdr



Series: The Alolan Pokémon Merman AU [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon | Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon Versions
Genre: Brothers, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, merman au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 14:42:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19725754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galdr/pseuds/Galdr
Summary: Selene's moved to Alola with her mother and Meowth and she honestly couldn't wait to start her journey. But you know, she's always been pretty interested in myths and historical events...





	The Boy from the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, what do you know? Another merman AU! I know I shouldn't do this, but I had to. Like, I had this typed up earlier this year and just kinda forgot it existed. Touched it up and bam. Very likely going to continue it along with my Tales of the Mystery Dungeons AU series and my other merman AU, too, Beneath the Ocean Depths. Anyway, hope you all enjoy, ha-ha. I had a lot of fun with this.

The Alola Region. It was a beautiful region with four islands, a distant region far from the likes of Hoenn, Johto and Sinnoh. It was much closer to the Unova and Orre Regions, however.

It was a welcome change for a small family of three.

Selene, her mother Naia, and her Meowth had just moved in a few days ago, having had Pokémon helpers, mainly Machamp and the movers, move their multitude of boxes with their things into their new home. It was stationed in Route 1, outside of Hau’oli City and close to the neighboring village called Iki Town. The walk to the city wasn’t very long, only about fifteen minutes but they had taken her mother’s truck driving from the port all the way to their house.

For those few days, Selene and her mother had unpacked and assimilated the house and furniture, rugs, dishes and the like. The bedrooms were the first to be polished with their belongings. Selene had decorated her new room the same way her old one back in Kanto had been like. Her mother and her Meowth had done likewise as well as the two restrooms. The kitchen had been next, their side porch and last had been the garage, for storing others that wouldn’t fit inside the home. There were still some last boxes that needed to be unpacked but the small family of three were exhausted to continue.

Selene had practically collapsed on her bed on the third day, forgetting to change out of her day clothes and slept the night off. Her dreams were filled with fantasies of having an adventure with Pokémon and getting to meet new ones. The Alola Region was vastly different than her home in the Kanto Region, so there were surely some different kinds to see. She honestly couldn’t wait—her chat with Professor Kukui days ago had her on the edge of her seat since then!

The next day eventually came; Selene thought it never would! Meowth woke her up as usual and she met her mother for breakfast, showered and got dressed quickly for another day for unpacking. Before that, however, they shared some time outside on their porch.

“Look at that beautiful sunrise, Selene!” her mother pointed out as she stretched, a delightful smile plastered on. The girl spotted the rising sun and nodded in agreement.

“It’s as great as it was yesterday, Mom,” she said with a small laugh, “I really like where the house is. We can see the sunrise and the sunset every day.”

Her mother inclined her head with a cheery bounce, “Yep! The Alola Region is just as beautiful as Kanto! Although I will say the skies and air are much clearer and cleaner.” The woman turned to her daughter and Pokémon, who in turn did likewise, “Don’t you think so, Meowth?”

“Nyaa!” Meowth chirped in response as mother and daughter shared a laugh together. Once that passed, Naia had her arms akimbo and grinned at them.

“Well you two, how about we start tackling these boxes and finish unpacking?”

“Sounds like an idea, Mom.”

“Nya!”

Naia nodded and began heading inside with the two following after them. Together, they finally unpacked their television for the kitchen, Selene’s Nintendo Switch, the few games that came with it, and her television for her room. They also unpacked more of her mother’s clothes, some Pokémon toys for Meowth, and the remaining chairs for the table. With all the moving around and a quick run into Hau’oli City for restocking the pantry shelves and refrigerator with essential food items, the day was coming close to the early evening hours of dusk.

The family of three still had a few more boxes to unpack but for the time being, they left them there. All three were quite winded from earlier!

“Whew, most of it is done,” Selene’s mother spoke up once they reentered the house with the groceries. Selene and Meowth both helped putting them away in their proper places as Naia began rummaging for specific pans, “I’ll get dinner started right away. I bet you’re both hungry from today’s activities.” Almost as if on cue, both Meowth’s and Selene’s stomachs growled in unison.

“Haha, you’re right Mom! I am getting hungry. And so is Meowth, too!”

The Scratch Cat Pokémon rubbed his paws to his cheeks in embarrassment causing his trainer and her daughter to giggle.

“I figured. Well, go get cleaned up. I’ll have this done in a jiffy!”

Selene nodded and hurried to her room to collect her change of clothes and essentials for the restroom. She was quick to get into the shower and dress. Meanwhile, her mother had washed her hands and began preparing dinner with Meowth finding his food bowl and bringing it to Naia for a refill for dinner. Ten minutes later, the food was ready and Naia gave Meowth homemade Pokémon food. It was just in time as Selene stepped out fresh from the shower and dressed in her bedtime clothes.

They sat down at the table and began to eat and their usual topics at the dinner table weren’t any different than before; what they expected of Alola, what kinds of Pokémon might be living here, and the climate changes. However, Selene’s mother brought up a topic she hadn’t asked in a while.

“Aren’t you ready to meet new Pokémon and go on an adventure?”

Selene finished her quick bite of her meal and nodded, “I am! I can’t wait to see which kinds live here. I wonder if that Professor Kukui is going to come around anytime soon?” She had been expecting him after all.

“Don’t worry, dear. I’m sure he will! He might be waiting for us to get settled in before coming along.”

“I hope so. I can’t wait another day longer! I’m so excited!”

Naia understood her daughter’s enthusiasm and it clearly rubbed off on her. She was excited as well—this would be a different experience for Selene. They had moved a few months after she had turned eleven from Kanto, the age appropriate for new trainers to begin their Pokémon journeys. It had since been upped the age requirements given Team Rocket’s nefarious schemes and the legendary Pokémon Trainer Red defeating them almost twenty years ago when she was still a little girl. Nevertheless, Alola was the safest for them and her daughter, plus she always wanted to move here considering this was her own home region before moving to Kanto when she was twelve and with her parents.

She often wondered if her old friend was still here. She hoped so! Perhaps he would come around and see her daughter and perhaps, so would his brother, too. She’d been pretty young when she moved away—in fact, she was about her daughter’s age when they moved. It’d been about twenty years ago. There was hope, though.

“Don’t worry, Selene. You will. Perhaps tomorrow will be the day.”

“Me too, Mom,” she replied then finished the rest of her dinner. After that, she collected the dishes and went to wash them in the sink while her mother went to shower. Once done, Selene gave Meowth an affectionate pat on the head as the Pokémon had curled up in his day bed by the porch’s sliding door and headed for her room. Closing the door minimally halfway, she bounded for her beanbag chair and turned her TV on. Maybe a funny cartoon show was going to come on—she’d watch it until she felt tired.

She found a channel which hosted an animated cartoon show starring humans being transformed into Pokémon and living out their days in a fictional Pokémon world, getting interested into the show. The main character was a Pikachu and their friend was a Pokémon called Vulpix, two Pokémon she recognized quite easily. The show only lasted for thirty minutes with an episode airing the next day, though Selene still wasn’t quite as tired. The excitement was getting to her—she was super jittery and giddy! Hoping another show or landing on another channel would calm and alleviate her deepest desires, she switched and landed on what appeared to be a history channel for the Alola Region.

“Today’s episode on Alolan History is about the mysterious and mythical tales about the sea,” the reporter on the show began talking as he introduced himself, “I’m Richard Klein, and have been studying the sea life and Water-type Pokémon in general. Originally, my studies have started in the Hoenn Region until it has branched into the Alola Region. My studies have pinpointed me that both the Hoenn and Alola regions share the same history as far as the mythical sea life entails.”

Mythical sea life? Selene wasn’t much of a buff when it came to Pokémon—at least, not yet—but she had looked up and watched Pokémon on television, real-life battles recorded or live streamed and had been interested in them ever since. But when it came to mysteries and historical myths revolved around Pokémon and the world? She was practically bouncing on the heels of her feet at that. From the Creation Trio from Hoenn to the Tao Dragon Trio of Unova to the historical tales from Sinnoh, Selene was all over them in a heartbeat. Reading up on history, myths and fairytales was one of her favorite past times if it wasn’t related specifically to Pokémon battles.

Now that the television show captured her undivided attention, Selene leaned forward from her beanbag and listened to the reporter, Richard Klein, continue talking.

“The mythical sea life I am referring to have been dubbed as the ‘Water Fae Folk’ or the Water Fae for short. These creatures are said to be the underwater equivalent of the human race, thus this is why Pokémon originating from the sea are encountered at such high strength or intelligent enough to use strategies commonly found and used by Trainers and their owned Pokémon.” Richard said as he was walking along a beach’s shore, “The existence of the Water Fae have been debated by many scientists and historians alike, both coming across evidence of their potential existence.” The screen switched to what looked like an ancient carving, “As shown here, we see delicate engravings on stone, recovered from the depths of the oceans from the waters near Akala Island of the Alola Region. Here, this is some kind of inscription that could potentially detail a Water Fae and a Water-type Pokémon at their command.”

Seen on screen was the engraving itself on some kind of rock tablet, with Richard pointing it out and dramatically circling what he mentioned with his index finger. There was a choppy engraving of what looked like the upper half of man but his legs weren’t quite legs—they looked like the tails of a Vaporeon that replaced them instead. The man was seen pointing at a Pokémon, which looked like a Seaking, and fighting against another Water Fae with what looked like a choppy drawing of a Lanturn.

“These mysterious symbols along the carving have yet to be deciphered. It appears to be ancient Water Fae language, much like the Footprint Ruins of the Pokémon text and the Unown language,” Richard went on again as he pointed to the strange letterings around the rock tablet, “We believe it holds the secrets to discovering the Water Fae Folk. Many have tried to dive underwater and search for these elusive mythical beings and have come up empty each time. Some have claimed to hear mystical singing voices during moonless nights, leading them to believe that these creatures can possibly be seen or heard during these times.

“However, the widely believed rumor goes that whosoever encounters a Water Fae will have immense good luck or horrible bad luck. There are more evidence of the Water Fae’s existence, shown here with these items to my right…”

Selene’s attention was no longer on the TV, her mind having stopped short from the information provided. These Water Fae—were they really real? Or, were they some made up fairytale? Sure, she loved to read about these kinds of things, but she also knew that sometimes reality would come along and ruin it. There was evidence that many of the legendary Pokémon that are known today had some way helped shape the world as it was. Was there some kind of truth to these stories? Hearing about it almost made her as giddy as meeting Professor Kukui. Perhaps she shouldn’t get her hopes up too much—they were said to be myths and there was literally slim to no chances of ever meeting one up close.

Yeah. Perhaps she shouldn’t. It’d be far too disappointing if she joined the bandwagon of searching and came up empty.

Selene sighed as she turned the volume of her TV down, Richard continuing to rave on about the minimal discoveries left behind the supposed Water Fae and included a large group, potential fans, dedicated to finding them. She climbed into bed, watching the TV screen until her eyelids grew heavy. She hoped that, even if the chance of ever finding one of these Water Fae were practically below zero, she should get her hopes of finally becoming a Pokémon Trainer. She’s always wanted a Pokémon for herself—she didn’t get a chance to start her journey in her mother region. Hopefully here in Alola, she would. Selene hoped she would meet Professor Kukui tomorrow. As Selene was drifting off to sleep, a melodious singing voice softly sung into the night, its volume accentuating and mimicking a harmonious string ensemble. Having heard it, Selene smiled and fell asleep, lulled by its beauty.

* * *

**…**

* * *

Further down Route 1, a house stood, having been built on the sandy beach. Stepping outside the door for a moment, a young teenager clothed from head to toe in a white dress, hat and boots clutched a bag close to herself. The bag wiggled and soon releasing itself from its hold was a strange looking Pokémon, who hovered close to the water in excitement.

“Nebby, be careful,” the girl calls to the strange creature, whose yellow eyes lit up with glee. The sound of the voice beckoned the creature and they both stared out at sea.

“We shouldn’t be out here; I wonder what it is that you could possibly want being out here at this time of night,” the girl asked although she knew she wouldn’t get much of an answer. The small, round Pokémon made a soft sound as its response, a quiet “Peww” as it hovered close to the shore. It could hear the singing voice, but it knew it couldn’t go pursue it. The girl sighed, but wondered what that voice could be about. Surely it must be some kind of Pokémon out there. But why would Nebby be so interested in it?

After some time, the Pokémon, Nebby, grew too frustrated in trying to cross the waters of the Melemele Sea and floated back towards the girl. “Peww…” it murmured in what seemed to be disappointment.

“Maybe you’ll have another chance at it, Nebby,” the girl encouraged it, “Whatever it could be, I’m sure we’ll find it someday. Don’t get your hopes down, alright?”

“Pew!”

The girl was glad that the Pokémon agreed with her. It was definitely a hassle and half keeping it safe. “Alright. How about we head back inside? It’s going to get cold and we should sleep. Tomorrow’s supposedly going to be a busy day for us. Professor Kukui is going to meet with a new neighbor, I heard.”

“Pew!”

The girl’s smile was small but genuine as the creature floated up towards her and she gently captured it into her arms. She turned and went back inside the house, closing the door behind her and locking it.

The voice never stopped its beautiful, haunting lullaby. Not until the new morning sunrise was closing in, capturing the Alola Region in its mystical, orange-red glow.

* * *

_**The Next Morning** _

* * *

“Ah! Another beautiful sunrise in the Alola Region!” Naia exclaimed as she stretched her arms as if to embrace the sun itself. She was standing on her porch, watching the sun rising from its sleep to greet her. Brown eyes were full of mirth and happiness, glad to have yet another day to spend in her new home.

“Mrowr!” The sound of Meowth’s cry woke her from her trance and she turned to see her long-time Pokémon friend standing next to her, also enjoying the early sunlight.

“Ah, good morning, Meowth. Did you sleep well?”

“Mrowr!”

“That’s good! A long cat nap is just what you needed, huh? Today’s the day we’re going to definitely finish unpacking! We’ll need an early start though.” The Scratch Cat Pokémon chirped in agreement to his Trainer and she nodded, “Right. Meowth, can you be a dear and wake up Selene? We’ll be needing her help!”

“Nyaa!” Meowth chirped again and dashed back inside the house. The Pokémon headed for the door to Selene’s room and pushed it open as it had been left open a tiny bit for him to do so. He looked around for a bit and spotted his Trainer’s daughter sleeping in her bed as she should be. Although the other time, she’d fallen asleep on her bean bag. Meowth hurried towards the edge of the bed, climbed up and began patting the girl’s shoulder.

With quite a loud shout of “Nyaa!” the girl was groaning awake from her sleep. When she moved, Meowth hopped off and landed on the floor, standing a little ways from the bed and waited for her to wake up completely. If she didn’t, he’d have to go to Plan B—it was normally quite hard to wake his Trainer’s daughter in the morning especially.

Selene grumbled something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like “five more minutes, Mom” before scooting into her bed sheets and trying to find the warmth of the covers and her dreams. Unamused and unfazed by the normalcy of this situation, Meowth prepared to unleash his Screech technique to get her up.

“ ** _Nyaaaa!_** ” Meowth unleashed the move, which was much more effective than bouncing on her to get her up. Seriously, there could have been an 8.0 earthquake going on and the girl would still sleep through it.

Startled by the move, Selene immediately sprang up with a squeal.

“Wh-What?” She gasped out, searching in panic for a second before her eyes settled on her mother’s Meowth. Realizing what just happened, she groaned again, rubbing her eyes. “Oh, just you, huh Meowth? Did Mom send you to wake me up again?”

“Mrowr!”

“Right, of course,” Selene sighed and then chuckled lightly. Really, she should have been _used_ to that particular tactic the Scratch Cat Pokémon used when waking her up from a deep sleep. She hated waking up in the mornings, but oh well. She could blame it on the different time zones of Alola—her body was still adjusting to it after all. That jetlag must have hit her harder than usual.

“Okay, I’m up, I promise,” she told the Pokémon, “You can let Mom know I’m up.”

“Mrowr!”

Meowth nodded and headed out of the room. Selene watched him go before standing up to stretch. It was time to get ready for the day, it seemed. There was a bunch of boxes still left over from yesterday that they’d need to unpack. Now that she thought about that as well as the prospect of meeting Professor Kukui today, it made Selene excited. She honestly couldn’t _wait_. Sure she and her mother went on a trip to Hau’oli City yesterday, but that hadn’t been much. When a wild Pokémon had come up to them to attack them out of nowhere, it was her mother that had battled with Meowth. Considering Meowth was pretty high in level, he easily defeated the wild Pokémon. When it noticed how unmatched it was compared to Meowth, it had fled.

Neither of the two had known what sort of Pokémon it was, but it looked very interesting.

She knew her mother had been a pretty formidable Pokémon Trainer in her youth; she’d been called the Scratch Cat Girl by many who had revered her skill with utilizing just her Meowth in several battles. That was how she earned her fame and how she had apparently met her father; she’d defeated him in battle and quite soundly, too. When it came to battle, her mother was quite ruthless, dare Selene admit.

Minding out of her thoughts, Selene turned to her window and opened the blinds to let in the sun’s rays. She quickly dressed in her clothes for the day, an orange shirt with spaghetti straps, beige shorts and her socks and shoes. She left her room once finished getting completely ready and headed outside through the open door to the porch.

“Good morning, Mom,” Selene greeted her as soon as she spotted her.

“Good morning, dear. It sure sounded like Meowth had to wake you up with his usual method again!”

While her mother laughed at this, Selene slightly pouted which soon transformed into a half smile.

“Yeah, he did.”

“Either way, it’s a nice day again today. I was thinking we could get a head start on unpacking the rest of these boxes. The sooner we finish the better!”

“Sure, Mom. But can we have breakfast first?”

“Of course! Let’s go!”

The two went back inside and Naia was soon at the stove with her pans and cooking ingredients, making pancakes for breakfast. She also made Meowth a bowl of homemade Pokéfood again afterwards. She set a plate of pancakes on the table with syrup and gave Meowth his food. Once she sat down, the mother and daughter duo began eating with gusto.

Selene finished three pancakes off before she got full.

“Delicious as always, Mom!”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it, honey,” her mother replied after finishing off the last pancake herself, “Let me wash the dishes and then we can get started.” Before she stood to do said task, her daughter was faster and began grabbing the plates.

“Let me, Mom. I’ll do it,” Selene volunteered. After all, her mom cooks for them, it was only right she washes them. It was one of her daily chores anyway. Naia nodded her head in agreement as she stood from the table.

“Alright, dear.”

Selene carefully carried the plates to the kitchenette’s sink and began washing the dishes as Naia pushed in the chairs to the table and cleaning off the table top.

“I’ll go start unpacking. Meet me on the porch when you’re done, Selene.”

“Okay, Mom!”

Naia turned to her trusty starter Pokémon, “Let’s go, Meowth.”

“Mrowr!”

The two went outside again to begin tackling the boxes out there as Selene continued washing the plates. As she was doing so, her mind drifted to yesterday’s TV show, particularly the one with the historical accounts of these “Water Fae Folk” that was a myth. Though she didn’t want to get her hopes up, she _was_ still interested in it. She couldn’t lie that she wasn’t. Not to mention, she remembered that there was a rumor about being able to hear singing on “moonless nights”, for some reason. Hmm, wasn’t yesterday one those nights?

And, for some reason, she felt she had heard the most wonderful sound while falling asleep. In fact, she thought it had lulled her to sleep like a Jigglypuff using its Sing technique.

 _Well, I guess I must have dreamt it,_ Selene thought as she placed the clean dishes on the rack next to her and turned off the water, _Besides, it might not be real. I honestly shouldn’t get too excited for something that might not exist._

Believing that for now and pushing her curiosity down for the time being, Selene dried her hands and hurried outside to help her mother and Meowth.

* * *

_**Later That Day** _

* * *

It was around four in the afternoon when the trio had finished for the day. There were a couple boxes leftover inside the house that were shuffled to the corners, but they got majority of it done. They had a quick, half-hour lunch break at two in the afternoon. All in all, it was tiring and now it was time for another break for some TV time.

Selene grabbed some snacks from the pantry and sat down with her mother and Meowth as the TV was on and they were going to watch a movie together. It was about a gallant knight and his partner Pokémon that wanted to protect their kingdom before its inevitable downfall due to a war between other nations and this magnificent tree which housed a Mythical Pokémon called Mew. His partner Pokémon had tried to stop him but the man had used his staff to seal the Pokémon inside and sealed it away to keep it safe. The man had sacrificed himself to the tree and Mew, giving his life force, his Aura, to it, to heal it and stop the warring. His apparent lover was a young queen of the kingdom he had fought for and she had been sad. The movie’s ending was quite tragic.

Selene normally liked movies that ended with happy endings, but this one was an exception. She was moved to tears by the ending along with her mother, which almost seemed like a cliffhanger, but it wasn’t. The producers of the film were in the midst of its sequel’s production.

With the movie’s ending still going, Selene noticed the time was five-twenty-three. Wow, that had been a pretty long movie. Her mind drifted back to earlier and then her desire for a Pokémon adventure. She looked out to the nearest window, which was long windows to the porch. Hmm, there was still some daylight to kill and Selene actually wanted to go outside for a bit. Deciding on that, she spoke up.

“That was a good movie,” her mother said first.

“Yeah. I didn’t really like the ending too much since it was sad. The guy never got to see the queen again and his Pokémon was sealed away, too.”

“You’re right. But sometimes things happen tragically and there isn’t much we can do about it.” Her mother then smiled, “Good thing it’s only a fictional film.”

“Right,” Selene replied, glanced to the clock again and then turned back to her mother, “Hey Mom. I’m going outside for awhile.”

“Alright dear, just be careful and don’t go into the tall grass. Wild Pokémon could jump out and attack you.”

“Okay.”

“Also, be back before dinner!”

“Alright.”

Selene sat up from their sofa and went into her room to pick up her hat from the coat rack in her room. Her gaze lingered to her bag but dismissed it. Where she was going she wasn’t going to need it. After making sure her shoes were still on, she left her room and headed through the house to the front door. She turned to see that her mother had collected the snack bowls and was heading for the kitchenette to wash them out.

“I’ll be back soon, Mom.”

“Okay dear. See you soon!”

“Mrowr!” Meowth chirped at the end as he dashed up towards Selene to say goodbye. She giggled and affectionately scratched behind his ears, careful of his coin and whiskers.

“I’ll see you soon too, Meowth! Be good and keep an eye on Mom for me, okay?”

“Mrowr!”

Selene turned and exited from then, closing the door behind her. She walked down the steps from the front porch and stretched. Being outside felt much better, she reasoned to herself. She knew the tall grass was down the road to the right and right for the Melemele Sea just ahead, too. In the far distance, she could see what looked like a house on the beachside. Huh, she wondered who lived there? While curious, she minded her mother’s warning and stayed away from the tall grass. Instead, she headed down the leftmost path of Route 1 where the Pokémon Center, Trainer’s School and the road to Hau’oli City resided.

Thinking of going to the city just to take a quick walk, Selene headed that way. Along the way, her excitement for her eventual Pokémon journey kept rearing its head into her mind. What sort of Pokémon would be available for choosing? Would they be the classic Water, Grass and Fire starters like in other regions? What kind of people would she meet? The insurmountable questions just kept coming and her desire and cheer couldn’t possibly melt away. She was a little envious when seeing younger kids around having Pokémon with them. Sure, her mother’s Meowth had been with her since she was born, but it wasn’t the same as having one under her ownership.

She hoped this Professor Kukui would show himself soon! She couldn’t wait much longer or she’d explode from excitement itself.

Keeping to the leftmost sidewalk to avoid any oncoming traffic of cars and Pokémon, Selene kept an even pace as she walked into the city. The beach was just down the stairs and she opted to go there first to see the sights. She had seen it when they first arrived, marveling at how awesome and beautiful the view was from the airplane ride. Seeing it again was wonderful and it slightly took her mind off Pokémon for now. Now that she was here, she wished she brought her bathing suit. She’d have loved to swim for a bit. Ah well, maybe another time she would. It was still pretty warm out and there were people around still enjoying the sun and the waves, swimming and having fun. Some were with their Pokémon, which brought a smile to Selene’s face.

And it also brought her back to her earlier thoughts. Man, oh man, what she wouldn’t do to have her own right now.

Sighing, Selene browsed around the beach and looked around for a spot that would take her out of view for a moment and found it. She sat close by the shore and watched the waves. The sound of them were quite soothing, to be honest.

 _I guess it wouldn’t hurt to at least soak my feet in the water,_ she thought and began taking her shoes and socks off to do just that. Standing up, she walked into the water with her bare feet, giggling a bit as the water tickled her toes. She walked in further until her knees were in the water. That was as far as she would go anyway since she didn’t want her clothes getting wet. For a while, Selene just splashed a little, kicking up water and enjoying herself. It wasn’t long until she caught the eye of a Pokémon. It was apparently watching her and she stared at it.

Her heartbeat accelerated and she slightly froze. This could be a wild Pokémon and she had no Pokémon on her, not even her mother’s Meowth for protection. Yes, she was infinitely curious, but slight fear of being attacked had unleashed its fury through her. Keeping her eyes on the Pokémon, which was possibly a Water-type, Selene carefully and slowly inched back, hoping that she could get to the shore. Maybe it couldn’t swim that close and she could get away relatively safely.

The probable Water-type Pokémon stared at her some more before it smiled. Its body was blue, it had dark eyes and it had a round, pink nose.

“Po-poii!” It jeered in delight—or what Selene _thought_ was in delight—as it slapped its flippers. It then swam closer, approaching her and Selene’s gaze followed it. Yet, she didn’t move… or rather _couldn’t_. Was it going to attack? Was its smile just deception? She shut her eyes in the inevitability of being attacked but it never came. Rather, she felt something wet hit her cheek softly and it faded quickly as it came.

Huh?!

Selene cracked an eye open and saw that the creature was apparently blowing bubbles. No, wait. This was the technique called Bubble. It seemed to blow more at her, but they popped innocently around her. Oh, did it want to play instead?

Shakily, Selene’s breath came back to her although her nerves had yet to settle. “Do… Do you just want to play?” She asked the wild Pokémon. This sounded like a dumb idea in her mind but the creature apparently understood her and chirped again, complete with a cute flip. Aww, how adorable!

Seeing its cheer and joy, it calmed Selene and she managed to work up her courage to get closer to the wild Pokémon. She was still cautious, being mindful of its space. It could do anything unpredictable so she would have to be careful. “A-Alright. So, what do you want to play?”

“Popolii!” The Pokémon replied. Selene obviously had no idea what it was saying but she guessed that it wanted to blow more bubbles. Evidenced by it blowing more as emphasis.

Selene took to popping the bubbles when they neared her and sometimes she’d be silly and pop them with her head. The little Pokémon chirped in joy when she did so and tried it for itself, too. After that game, the Pokémon decided it would be a great time to get into a splashing game and used its small but powerful front flippers to splash the girl with water. Selene squealed in surprise but wasn’t angry; rather, she returned with a vengeance and splashed the Water-type back.

The two were having a good time and the longer she stayed, the longer Selene felt comfortable around the wild Pokémon, her earlier fears abated. All it wanted to do was play and she obliged. She didn’t realize the time as the sun was setting and the people at the beach, one by one, were leaving to go home. It wasn’t until the sun was on the horizon that she realized it was getting a bit chilly and she was pretty much alone with the Pokémon.

“Oh, it’s getting late!” Selene noticed. The wild Pokémon had stopped blowing its bubbles again when its playmate had stopped, too. The girl turned to the Pokémon, “I have to go home now.”

It tilted its head at her, not quite understanding her words as much but apparently knowing some.

“Popoii?”

Selene was no closer to understanding it, but she guessed it was parroting her earlier words.

“Yeah. Home. Do you have a home, little one?”

The creature nodded and answered with a happy “Popoli!” as it directed a flipper back to the water. Right, it was a Water-type, so its home had to be there.

“Okay. Well, I should get going,” Selene said with a smile. “You better get home, too!”

“Popoi!” It slapped its back flippers together and began wobbling back to the water. However, after a few seconds, it turned to look back at Selene with a slightly sad expression then turned back to the water. Seeing it, Selene was a little sad to leave, too. Once her initial fear had faded, she had gotten used to the Pokémon so easily. She enjoyed its company—in fact, it made her think less about her Pokémon journey. Not that she’d forgotten it, heavens no! It just wasn’t as prominent—it’d been pushed to the back of her mind in favor of having fun. If she could see this Pokémon again and play with it, it’d make the wait easier for her, she wagered.

“Don’t worry, little one. We can play tomorrow!” Selene said hastily. She didn’t know if Professor Kukui was coming tomorrow but she would make on her promise to come by here and play with it.

Hearing this, the Pokémon turned to face her and immediately cheered up. Yeah, that’d been the right thing to say. It chirped in delight and then finished its wobble back to the water. Once it got in, it began to swim away and before long, it waved its flipper to her and dove under. She waved back and watched where it’d been for a moment longer before sighing a happy one. Yeah, she needed to head back now.

She couldn’t wait to tell her mother the news! She put her socks and shoes back on, not caring they were wet from all the splashing earlier and hurried off back to Route 1 and where home was. This was going to be a great story to tell over dinner!

* * *

**…**

* * *

An hour after she was gone and the beach was quiet save for the chirping of the nearby Pikipek, rising from the water was a head full of white hair. Curious grey eyes stared at where the girl had been. Their gaze traveled to where she might have gone and frowned. That seemed like a long way, but there was perhaps a chance they’d get to meet her, too. At least, they _hoped_ they could. The individual swam closer to the shore and once deeming it safe enough, pulled themselves out of the water to sit on the shore.

It was a boy with a tanned complexion. He brushed some of his hair from his face—which kind of failed spectacularly—and lifted the rest of his body with him; his lower half was that of a tail shaped similarly to a Vaporeon’s, except it was scaly and dark grey in color. He sat there and glanced out to the sea and then to the sky where he could see the moon halfway in its ascent.

‘ _I told you I had a lot of fun!_ ’ a girly voice spoke to him and popping up from the water was the Pokémon from earlier. ‘ _We even played together! Humans_ aren’t _as bad as the others think they are, Sun!_ ’

Yeah, he knew that was likely true, but he’d never been able to get close enough. The others had warned him that humans were dangerous and should never come in contact with them. Especially since they were “stealing their Pokémon from the sea” or some other nonsense.

‘ _I know, Popo. But you know I can’t just show myself to them. For one, that’d be bad news and two,_ everyone _would get angry with me,_ ’ the boy replied, sighing, ‘ _I just wish I could meet one without repercussions, you know?_ ’

The Water-type Pokémon wobbled out of the water to sit next to him and nudged him with her nose. ‘ _And you can! We both can, just let me handle the meeting stuff, okay? That human girl I was playing with earlier said she would be back. I know she’ll come back and you can meet her!_ ’

Sun, as he was called, sighed and tangled his hand into his hair, which defied gravity a little bit as it slightly dried from being out of the water. He couldn’t figure out his jittery feeling nor the feeling of fear, both of which crawled up his back for unexplainable reasons. Was he afraid after all? Then again, those rumors and stories he’s been told all his life had spooked him silly from his fellow Water Fae folk.

‘ _Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to_ try _, huh?_ ’ Sun replied back eventually, unperturbed by the chilly, Alolan night’s wind, ‘ _I don’t know how I’m going to talk to her, though. I can barely understand some of the human language._ ’

Popo shrugged a little of what she could of her nearly non-existent shoulders, ‘ _Would be a good of a time to try and learn more from those weird human objects and junk you like collecting so much._ ’

Offended that his collection was being insulted, Sun immediately went on the defense, ‘ _Hey, they_ aren’t _junk! They’re precious treasures!_ ’

‘ _Uh-huh, sure. You’ve been obsessed with human stuff since you were born. I don’t really get it, but you know I’ve got your back, Sun. I’m your guardian, remember!_ ’

Sun mumbled under his breath but didn’t repeat it to Popo. She was right though. She’d been his guardian as long as he could remember. One day he woke up and there she was. It almost felt like he couldn’t remember anything before then—not even a childhood. Although every time he tried to press his mind for memories prior, he’d get immense head pain and agony that had him curling in a fetal position. Whatever it was, those memories weren’t inaccessible to him and his mind likely shut him out of it possibly due to trauma.

He wasn’t sure, but that’s what his older sister had told him. Sun was clearly curious about his life before then but never asked. His sister had gone too quiet and said that it didn’t matter anymore. He was here and that was the end of it. So, Sun had dropped it altogether. But, after pushing it aside, his fascination with the Surface world and human objects became his passion. He found a number of assorted things that he couldn’t put any names to them. He eventually had too much stuff to hold in his room down in the kingdom, so he had made a cave to place his hoard in.

The other Water Fae folk had taken notice of it and warned him against it. They never actively _stopped_ him from collecting them, but they advised against it every time. He’d become like a bit of a pariah in the underwater kingdom. Some avoided him because he was just purely odd in every way imaginable to some, but otherwise, they were at least civil with him.

But, he couldn’t explain his fascination with it.

It had escalated to him breaching the surface of the waters to see the lands above and he was marveled by them. It’d been a complete culture shock, seeing humans and what appeared to be Pokémon that lived _on_ _land_ aiding them in their everyday activities or Pokémon battles! It was amazing! Sun had taken to watching these battles as often and discreetly as he could—for one, he did take his fellow brethren’s warnings of the humans and the dangers of being spotted seriously. He did not get close at all, watching from a fair and safe distance. Sun always found some kind of hiding spot and watched the battle from there, rooting for the Pokémon that he liked the best to win. Sometimes they won, sometimes they didn’t.

Whenever the battle ended, he would swiftly exit by ducking underwater before any of them saw him there. The battle would replay in his mind over and over and he would make the journey to the surface again at a later time to watch another if he happened to sense or see one. He’d also seen a battle between two humans swimming while they had Water-type Pokémon or those that could fly and hover over the water. That had been incredibly risky since there hadn’t been a good hiding spot, so he’d watched from underwater where the two humans couldn’t see him—but the battling Pokémon _had_.

He hadn’t minded if they did since they were Pokémon—although, it had distracted the Water-type though and enabled its opponent to win the match.

Thinking about all of his adventures thus far, Sun wished to go further.

There was a myth among the Water Fae that if their fins dried out, they would gain human legs and be able to walk on land. None have tried nor attempted it considering there was this unspeakable fear of humans and their surface world among the Water Fae, but the tale was spun into a rumor. A rumor Sun was willing to carry out someday, when he gained the courage. Right now, he was actually afraid of doing so. Not only would his sister notice his absence right away, but he feared that the humans would notice his differences and capture him.

He had abilities they didn’t, after all, and it was probably the same likewise with them.

‘ _I’m not “obsessed” with it. Just… interested, that’s all,_ ’ he eventually said in his defense, as weak as it was.

‘ _Right…_ ’ Popo delivered her reply, but soaked in sarcasm. Sun rolled his eyes at that. ‘ _Anyway, like I said, she’ll be here tomorrow. Why don’t we spend the night sleeping closer to this shore? There might be more of those battles you like to watch and we’ll be close enough to watch._ ’

Smiling at the prospect of watching another battle, Sun nodded.

‘ _Yeah, sounds like an idea. Let’s get further away from the shore, though. Don’t want to be spotted so soon, you know._ ’

Popo agreed with a chirp and the two hurried to slip back into the cool waters of the ocean. They took one last look at the beach before diving underwater, seeking a spot they could snag for their sleep for the night. The wait was likely going to kill him, Sun thought as he got comfortable and closed his eyes.

…Once again, like every night, he couldn’t get the feeling that something was missing, every time he closed his eyes and went to sleep, however. What was this feeling of loss, despair and regret that he kept feeling? He hoped that he’d find the answer to this mystery someday, too.

* * *

**…**

* * *

“Boss, the lady’s here for you again.”

A man with shaggy white hair looked up from what he was doing to see a woman with make-up on and her hair in two ponytails walk towards him. She had one of her arms akimbo and on her hip, the other dropped to her side. He nodded and waved her off dismissively.

“Tell her I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Yeah.”

The woman left, exiting out of the door to the room he was in. The man sighed as he got up from his throne. The object in his hand was a photograph inside a small frame. It depicted four people in it; a girl with brown hair, a smaller version of what appeared to be himself, another boy with equal coloring of his next to him, and the last one of a boy with black hair and a white hat on his head. He stared at this picture for a long time, his gaze mostly lingering on the boy next to his younger self. The other two he didn’t care for much—not _too_ much at least—as he was concerned with just one.

“…Been over twenty years,” he muttered to himself, “Dumb squirt, I miss ya, ya know.” He didn’t know how long he stood there for, gazing at the picture with a saddened expression, but he eventually placed it on his table next to his laptop. There would be a time when he could reminisce about the good ole days, but now wasn’t the time. That lady he was supposed to meet was going to give him any remaining instructions about what to do soon and of her plans.

Stretching a bit, he walked down from the throne and his room, going for the exit.

“I’ll see ya later, Elio,” he said to no one in particular when he glanced back at the photograph. After that, he exited the room, the door closing behind him.

…The picture was seemingly stared back at him before he’d gone, with a rumbling sound of thunder booming from outside as noise ominously.


End file.
